


Getting Older

by sanctum_c



Series: Spring Awakening 2019 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Aging, Art, F/M, Immortality, Immortals, Love, Painting, Picnics, Post-Canon, Post-Game(s), Sketches, Tumblr Prompt, meeting up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22440931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: An older Tifa struggles from bed to meet with Cloud.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Spring Awakening 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985497
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Getting Older

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompts 'Pastels' and 'New Beginnings'

Tifa could not help the groan when her alarm sounded. And waking up so early was her idea. Joints took some effort to get moving and not feel so stiff. Deep fog in her brain; some coffee would help. She stretched with care and slipped out of bed, padding to the bathroom in her slippers. The sky outside was blue, the sun peeking over the horizon. Perfect timing.

Daily routines played out like so many times before. Washing, brushing her teeth. Down to the kitchen, one hand sliding along the banister rail with each step down. A pause at the bottom, frustration at the effects of time on her. A deep breath. Better. She felt better. Not so old anyway. “I feel fine.”

A few little errands to complete in the kitchen first. Thermos filled with coffee – and another pause to sip at an immediate caffeine boost to ward off the woolly feel in her brain. Sandwich filling, butter, bread; sandwiches formed with practised ease. Selection of fruit, a few other not so healthy but tasty extras and her picnic basket was complete. She put her art supplies on top and wrapped her scarf around her neck. With her easel and canvas under one arm she set out.

People moving in the streets. Trucks with deliveries and idling motors, messengers and workers hurrying along the streets. A far cry from the bustle of midday, but still so many. She smiled and waved to those she recognised, heading out onto the main streets. Traffic grew heavier, the roar of cars and lorries, the more distant swish of higher velocity vehicles on the distant freeway.

Nothing but a few wisps of white clouds high in the sky, the sun tinting everything yellow. Behind her now and no longer catching her gaze. Tifa walked on, following the main road out towards the edge of the city. Fewer people out this far. Peaceful. Paved footpaths gave way to grasslands, fresher, greener growths long since overwhelming and hiding the desiccated plants once found here.

The landscape around her brightened still further. A pause at the base of a small hill. Once she would have run up the slope without another thought. Once she would have strolled up it. Now she needed to pause. Inevitable perhaps, but still frustrating. Muscles in her legs and ankles took time to begin protesting; still a surprise at the point she believed this little expedition would be easy. No such luck.

Tifa panted when she crested the hill, heart racing and a faint tracery of sweat on her forehead. The air remained cool, but now she was too hot. The scarf discarded, she set up the easel and her canvas, looking back towards the sun. Towards what remained of Midgar.

In intervening years, the city had collapsed further, long overdue maintenance pulling down vast sections of the once suspended upper plates. Perilous to consider venturing within the city limits for any reason. Difficult to stop anyone trying given the sheer length of the circumference. Not somewhere she wanted to go back. 

Or not yet. Perhaps one day. There were still places within the city with relevance and an appeal.

For today she was content to stare and sketch, rendering the ever-greening Midgar onto her canvas. The growths now wrapping the plate supports climbed to vast heights over the central spire of the Shinra building, the immense flower beds clustered wherever the sun touched perhaps should not have been a surprise, though many still expressed amazement when the city where nothing grew became the epicentre for the new burst of life from within the Planet. There was no confirmation, but Tifa was sure there were two likely sources for the plant-life. A thought always capable of making her smile.

Tifa took her time, sketching what remained of the Sister Ray, the fallen barrel connected to the body via massed lengths of creeper. Tendrils of greenery, threaded with flowers spilled out over the plate edges and hanging down, shading the lower regions of Midgar where reports indicated a carpet of smaller plants had taken root. The sun rose, the changes in light picking out more detail, more colour within the city.

She sipped at her coffee until the distant roar of a motorbike sounded. Another smile. Not here merely for the view or to paint. He was arriving home today after too long. Tifa completed her brush-strokes and unfolded the blanket. The bike halted beside her by the time she finished laying out the contents of the basket. Cloud Strife – forever twenty-one – smile at her and settled onto the blanket beside her.


End file.
